On 16 December 2017, 12 Tauranga migrants sat a whole-day exam to qualify for a Speech New Zealand certificate in Professional Speaking. The exam marked the formal end of a ten-week course, Professional Speaking for Migrants, offered by Multicultural Tauranga for the first time using a course syllabus developed by Speech New Zealand. The coursed was designed for migrants who wanted to gain the confidence and skills to be a captivating speaker at interviews, in social situations or at business events.
Course facilitator Pieter de Zwart prepared the class to:
- Speak in front of an audience about your job, skills, community interests, or about any interesting and/or memorable experiences.
- Make social speeches, such as introducing a speaker, farewell a colleague, or speaking at a dinner, funeral, weddings, accepting a prize or award, etc.
- Participate in work-related role plays such as dealing with complaining customers or doing job interviews.
- Read something aloud (e.g. an article, book extract, etc.) in a way that maintains the interest and understanding of an audience.
- Develop and presenting talks using audio-visual media, like MS PowerPoint.
- Listen to talks and being able to provide constructive feedback.
Examiner Gabrielle Thurston, who is Chairperson of Speech New Zealand, was delighted to announce that all participants had passed the exam, some even with distinction. “It is amazing and highly satisfying to see how much people can achieve in only ten weeks to improve their public speaking skills.”
A special event at which the course participants received their official Speech New Zealand certificates was held on 20 December – a well-deserved award for the hard work every one of them had put into their exam preparations.
Eight migrants had passed with distinction. On top of the Speech New Zealand certificates Multicultural Tauranga decided to give a special award for the best speech. The examiner had chosen Janett Ehinger, originally from Mexico, for her overall performance. Also, her speech topic “How to become more adaptable” couldn’t have been more fitting.
Course facilitator Pieter de Zwart was not only proud of what his class had achieved. He also pointed out that in view of the large number of registrations and a final class roll of 12 for this course there was a clear need in Tauranga for this kind of migrant support.
For further information please contact Pieter de Zwart on 027 576 5838.
Multicultural Tauranga – Tauranga Regional Multicultural Council Inc.
P.O. Box 841, Tauranga 3140, New Zealand. Tauranga Multicultural Centre: Complex 1, upstairs, Main Street, Historic Village on 17th Avenue, Tauranga. ) +64 7 571 6419,
8 enquiries@trmc.co.nz, : www.trmc.co.nz
Member of Multicultural New Zealand since 1994. Registered New Zealand charity CC 36898.
